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Dulce Et Decorum Est
Anthem for Doomed Youth
Mental cases
Disabled
S.I.W
“like old beggars under sacks…coughing like hags”
Heroic myth- Simile in DEDE comparing old men to beggars not brave men.
Gas! GAS!
Heroic myth- DEDE punctuation showing growing alarm
My friend you would not tell with such high zest
Heroic myth- DEDE adressing audience who are responsible for young men enlisting
And each slow dusk a drawing of blinds
Heroic myth- AODY imagery implying everone left behind after war is drawing blinds to reality
He thought he better join. He wonders why
Heroic myth- Disabled highlighting how fell for lie.
He thought of jeweled hilts, for daggers in plaid socks, of smart salutes; and care of arms; and pay arrears; Espirit de corps.
Heroic myth- Disabled, listing shows everything promised to soldiers
“drooping tongues from jaws that slob their relish”.
Heroic myth- mental cases imagery offering contrast to brave soldiers in myth
pawing at us who dealt them war and madness
Heroic myth- mental cases reminder that reader is who sent them to war.
Pity of war - fate sealed
“distant rest” metaphor implying death was inevitable.
“obscene as cancer bitter as the cud” simile comparing soldier’s fate to a disease
Pity of war- horrors of war
“monstrous anger of the guns” personification makes guns seem violent
“memory fingers in their hair of murders, multitudinous murders they once witnessed” alliteration, repeating of sounds mirrors replay of horrors for soldiers.
“guttering, choking, drowning” tricolon emphasises effect and overall horror of mans death
“as under a green sea I saw him drowning” metaphor liking gas to water suggests man’s death is like drowning.
Pity of war- suffering of those left behind
“he sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark. Euphemism for dark implies he is waiting for death.
“he’s lost his colour…poured it down the shell holes” metaphor implies he wasted youth and vigour going to war.
“dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh” simile suggesting men will never recover.
Disillusionment with religion- Abandonment
“only a solemn man… Thanked him; and then enquired about his soul” Only implies little care left.
“surely we have perished sleeping, and walk hell; but who is the hellish” Allusion making reference to hell suggesting all religion has abandoned them.
Heroic myth
Key idea- What was heroic myth
Owen critiques the patriotic rhetoric used to uphold the heroic myth, which glorifies war and persuades young men to enlist.
“That old lie Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” allusion it is sweet and fitting to die for homeland
“tell with such high zest to children” confronts pro-war propaganda, directed at Jessia Pope
“esprit de corps” irony for french saying meaning spirit in the group, soldiers are abandoned.
Heroic myth
Key idea- Dismantling heroic myth
Owen dismantles romanticised ideals of heroism and valor, instead he depicts them as vulnerable, broken and dehumanized.
“drooping tongues from jaws that slob their relish” imagery offers stark contrast to heroic soldiers.
“like old beggars under sacks…coughing like hags” simile compares young men to women and beggars not brave strong men.
“these who lost their intellect” exposing psychological destruction of soldiers.
“what passing bells” owen contrasts the expected grand funerals of heroes with grim reality of war where death is sounded out by “monstrous anger of the guns” and “stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle”
Heroic myth
Suffering of soldiers
Owen focuses on suffering during war emphasizing the physical and emotional suffering of soldiers rather triumpth and honor
“guttering, choking, drowning” tricolon emphasizes horror of war
“stroke on stroke of pain” shows extreme emotional and mental anguish
“as under a green sea, I saw him drowning”
Heroic myth
Wasteful and tragic
Sacrifice is presented as wasteful and tragic. Soldiers sacrifice not for glory but meaningless war
“these who die as cattle” simile dehumanizes death and emphasizes futility and waste
“the ram of pride symbol suggests leaders were not willing to give up pride instead sacrifice “half the seed of europe, soldiers death not for glory or honor but senseless cause.
“pleasure of this world powers who’d run amok” sacrifices of soldiers not for noble cause but rather tragic consequences of reckless leadership.
Graphic descriptions of pity of war
Owen’s poetry vividly captures the pain and suffering of soldiers, using graphic descriptions to evoke pity and force readers to confront harsh realities of war
“bent double, like old beggars under sacks”
‘those who die like cattle” mass slaughter
Disabled offers graphic contrast between youth optimism and present misery
“before he threw away his knees”
“legless, sewn short at elbow” imagery of man
“muzzle his teeth had kissed” chilling imagery symbolizing suicide in S.I.W
Pity of war
Futility of war amplifies soldier’s suffering
Conveys the futility of war to amplify the pity of the soldiers’ suffering. Exposes how war destroys lives without achieving glory or meaningful outcomes
“some cheered him home” critcises wars deception
“poured [his youth] down shell holes” implies sacrifce was wasteful
“ram of pride” biblical allusion suggests owen did not see war as necessity but rather choice by leaders
Pity of war
Loss of young lives and destruction of soldiers’ humanity”.
Owen laments loss of young lives and destruction of soldiers’ humanity. Poetry emphasizes tragic transformation of vibrant young men into lifeless, broken bodies.
“dies like cattle” emphasizing waste of young lives
“waiting for dark” euphemism war not only kills but also leaves physically and mentally ruined
“these are the men whose minds the dead have ravished” unable to escape trauma
“with him they buried the muzzle his teeth had kissed” show war drives to despair, making death seem preferable to life
Pity of war
Owen focuses on individual soldiers to humanise statistics of war
Owen focuses on individuals experience to humanize statistics and elicit pity for suffering
Owen focuses on Tim in S.I.W
Disabled follows single soldier reduced to a crippled,forgotten figue. Past where “girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim contrasted with present isolation and neglect.
In AODY “monstrous anger of the guns” contrasted with “pallor of their brows” meaning every soldier leaves loved ones
DEDE Owen focuses on one soldier describing agonizing death “guttering, choking, drowning”
